Delaware

Go here: The capital of the First State, Dover provides a wealth of historical and cultural attractions, including Amish markets, arts and antiques, the Dover International Speedway, slots and harness racing, and dozens of museums and historic sites, most of which offer free admission. Stay here: Little Creek Inn , 2623 N. Little Creek Road, 302-730-1300. The circa 1860 Italianate three-story inn has five rooms decorated with antiques, reproductions and custom imported linens, and welcomes children older than 12 and well-behaved dogs.

NASCAR Sparks driver Justin Boston to make Nationwide debut Justin Boston of Sparks will make his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series start in Saturday night's VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Boston will make two starts in the No.20 Zloop Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing; he is also scheduled to start the following week at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Boston, 25, is in his second season piloting the No.25 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series.

By the time Friday arrives we're all tired of playing in the same sandbox. We need a little freedom and creativity. A little time away from the co-worker who frequently piles up all of his dirt on your turf. Maybe if the playing field was a little bigger, say the size of a beach, we wouldn't have to draw a line in the sand. The Sandcastle Contest at Rehoboth Beach is the perfect place to test that theory — and maybe even work a bit on those team building skills. The annual event on the Delaware shore, sponsored by the Rehoboth Beach- Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, draws hundreds of contestants and spectators and awards prizes for both adults and children.

Saturday's 21-7 victory over Delaware State alleviated some of the pressure on a Towson football program that had begun the season 0-2. But coach Rob Ambrose used a difference adjective to describe the post-game mood. “Maybe for some of us [it was pressure], but more excitement, especially for some of these younger guys who haven't had the taste of winning ball games that are in their hands,” he said Monday afternoon during his weekly conference call arranged by the Colonial Athletic Association.

There has been recent discussion of having certain Western Maryland counties secede and become a separate state. In addition, the governor of Texas is running ads touting his state as a better place in which to live and do business. This brings to mind a recent trend that I have noticed. At least some of the people that I know are "voting with their feet. " As a retired school teacher, many of my friends and acquaintances are retired school teachers. In recent years, some of these retired school teachers have moved to Delaware.

For the first time in years, Maryland's beloved National Premium is being brewed again - in Delaware. Tim Miller, an Easton realtor, bought the naming rights to the brand last year with plans to bring it back to the market for the first time since it was discontinued in 1996. Last we'd heard from him he'd secured the original recipe and was looking to hire a contract-brewer. That still hasn't happened, but for the past several weeks, he's started brewing the beer's first test batches at Fordham Brewing Company in Dover.

My wife and I are both over 65 and we have found it too expensive to continue living in Maryland. We have purchased a new home in a 55 and over community in Delaware where the property taxes will be one-third what we pay in Baltimore County. Other costs such as car tags and license fees are also lower, and there is no state sales tax at all. We have met other people from Maryland who have bought homes in Delaware, and we all basically left or are leaving for the same reasons.

Perdue Inc. plans to move the headquarters of its agribusiness unit from Salisbury, where the poultry company is based, to Seaford, Del. The company said Tuesday it will build a new office building for the growing Perdue AgriBusiness at a still-undetermined site in the Delaware town, replacing a 40-year-old facility on Zion Church Road in Salisbury. The new Seaford location is expected to house about 150 executive and support personnel for the wholly-owned subsidiary that processes and exports agricultural products such as grain, feed and fertilizer.

Every year, new restaurants, stores and other attractions pop up on the Delaware shore. This year is no exception. The list below is a sampling of some of the more interesting places that have recently opened their doors, as wel as some beach standbys. Rehoboth Beach What's new Little Egg Harbor Soap, 129 Rehoboth Ave., lehsoap.com. This is the third location and the first in Delaware for the New Jersey-based fancy-soap retailer, founded in 1997. The shop sells blocks of house-made soaps in attractive colors and scents, as well as sugar scrubs, lip balms and lotions, all made with all-natural, nonanimal ingredients.

North Carolina Central @Towson Saturday, 6 p.m. Radio: 1300 AM Towson scored a pair of fourth-quarter special teams touchdowns to beat Delaware State, 21-7, at rain-soaked Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon. With Towson trailing 7-6 in the fourth quarter, Jordan Mynatt blocked a punt and Fred Overstreet recovered the ball in the end zone to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish. Derrick Joseph later ran back a punt 81 yards for a touchdown to give Towson a 21-7 lead.

TOWSON (0-2) @ DELAWARE STATE (0-2) When: Saturday, 2 p.m. Site: Alumni Stadium, Dover, Del. Audio: 1300 AM, TowsonTigers.com Series: Towson leads, 10-6 What's at stake: Saturday's 54-0 loss to West Virginia dropped Towson from The Sports Network's Football Championship Subdivision's top 25 poll. The Tigers will be trying to avoid their first 0-3 start since 1991 when they face the Hornets. Towson has won the past three meetings and has not lost to Delaware State since a 27-13 defeat in 1992.

Maryland is in the running for a data storage center with its own sizable power plant, a project planned for the University of Delaware until officials there spiked it amid an uproar over its scale and potential effect on the community. The Data Centers LLC said it's looking in Cecil County and elsewhere in Maryland as well as in Delaware and five other states. The company, which goes by TDC, eventually hopes to build two to three of the projects a year. Now, though, TDC is hunting for land for its inaugural project — which has proved harder to launch than the Pennsylvania firm anticipated.

Any craft-beer devotee will tell you the hardest thing about visiting a craft brewery is getting up to leave. Delaware's Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is encouraging more people to stay by going beyond the welcome mat to the spare bedroom - or 16. Having gained a following for its beers, Dogfish Head captured the attention of foodies by integrating flavorful ingredients into its brews. Now it is breaking new ground this summer by opening the Dogfish Inn, a brewery-themed boutique hotel, to accommodate its perpetual influx of craft-brew heads.

Capt. H. Russell "Russ" Miller III, a retired Chesapeake Bay pilot who spent more than four decades guiding ships through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and from Baltimore to Cape Henry, Va., died Wednesday of complications from a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The longtime North Baltimore resident was 73. The son of H. Russell Miller Jr., a bay pilot, and Mary Jane Sweitzer Miller, a homemaker, Harry Russell Miller III was born in Baltimore and raised in Govans. He was a 1959 graduate of Loyola High School, where he was an outstanding basketball player.

WASHINGTON -- When Washington Wizards head coach Randy Wittman broke the huddle, concluding a pre-draft workout for NBA prospects at the Verizon Center Thursday, Towson forward Jerrelle Benimon proceeded to the sideline with his head down. Benimon took his seat and stared into space, contemplating the last drill of the day during which he missed five of six jump shot attempts. "I couldn't get that last shot," he looked up to tell the first player that approached him. That player was familiar to Benimon - Delaware guard and South Baltimore native Davon Usher.

SOMEBODY SMASHES your car windshield to steal the quarter sitting on the dashboard. He's 25 cents richer, but you're out 500 bucks. A fair transaction? Apparently, it's not a problem for authorities in Delaware. Yes, that's right, our neighbors to the east seem to have the instincts of a second-rate criminal -- at least when it comes to business dealings. Recently, Delaware created a new type of corporate tax dodge that is breathtaking in its audacity. Its sole purpose? To help large companies hide profits from states like Maryland.

Don't worry about tax fairness, just be happy you have jobs That was state Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein's message to Marylanders who work in Delaware and pay income taxes there.Delaware, which would lose a net $20 million in income tax from Marylanders, has no interest in a tax reciprocity agreement that would allow workers to pay taxes only in the state where they live. As Maryland lacks any legal clout, Delaware has no incentive to even discuss it.Cecil County has pressed unsuccessfully for a county tax authority to remedy the issue, on behalf of 11,000 county residents (out of nearly 18,000 Marylanders)

Concerning the recent discussion in The Sun about seniors leaving Maryland to live in retirement elsewhere ( "Why I love living in Maryland," May 18), I have noticed that some of my friends and acquaintances who are retired school teachers have moved to Delaware. They did not chose to retire to Delaware to be nearer family members, and they certainly not to move to a better climate. They made this decision due to the significantly lower tax rate. Delaware has no sales tax, and their income tax and property tax rates are about two-thirds Maryland's rate.

MAY Horseshoe Crab and Shorebird Festival. Pay tribute to the natural wonders of Delaware Bay - the horseshoe crbas and migrating shorebirds - at this festival on May 24 at Milton Memorial Park. Visitors can take boat rides, join a scavenger hunt and see arts and crafts as well as live music and food. Free. Info: historicmilton.com 'Cruisin' Exhibit. Mark the history of motion with this exhibit celebrating bicycles, pedal cars and toys. Opens May 24 at the Rehoboth Beach Museum.